Year : 2008 (Escape Music Ltd. Remastered Edition 2025)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock , AOR
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 121 mb
Bio:
It is possible, maybe even likely that only keen-eared archaeologists of rock and those driven to dig deeper into the record racks will know of the great melodic hard rock band, Alliance. It would be news to some that their near thirty-year collaboration has previously yielded five highly regarded albums and that their almost secretively rare live shows could be counted on a single hand. Their new release, Fire and Grace on Escape Music LTD., the first in several years following Bond of Union (1996), Alliance (1997), Missing Piece (1999), Destination Known (2007), and Road to Heaven (2008) marks their 6th offering. You would be wrong to assume that the semi-occasional nature of their efforts indicates a lack of commitment or waning passion.For Fire and Grace, the core of the band remains the same with guitarist Gary Pihl (Boston), drummer Mr. David Lauser (Sammy Hagar) and bassist Robert Berry (3, GTR). The roots of their origin can be traced to Bill Graham’s place known as Wolfgang’s, in San Francisco. It was at Wolfgang’s that long time Sammy Hagar drummer David Lauser and keyboardist Jesse Harms were scouting for players while plotting their next moves after Hagar joined Van Halen. By chance, legendary Geffen Records A/R man John Kalodner had given Lauser demos from Robert Berry, a new artist being groomed by Geffen. Phone calls were exchanged, more demos were exchanged. Harms and Lauser traveled to Wolfgang’s to see Berry perform. Lauser liked what he saw, but things for everybody were about to get complicated. The forces of the Universe taking over. The new friends would have to wait for that first chance to play together as Harms hooked up with REO Speedwagon, Tom Scholz recruited Gary Pihl to join Boston, Berry was off to England to work with Steve Howe in GTR and later Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer. Mr. Lauser was immersed in recording with Hagar and other artists.
Album:
After their 1998 third CD, ALLIANCE reunited for a new studio release in 2008. The core of the band remained the same: Robert Berry (Hush, GTR, Ambrosia), Gary Pihl (Boston, Sammy Hagar), David Lauser (Sammy Hagar) and Alan ‘Fitz’ Fitzgerald (Night Ranger). Without doubt these men have some serious pedigrees and with one listen to ‘Road To Heaven,’ you will hear that they are fine musicians and song craftsmen.With the album now out of print, Escape Music is releasing “Road To Heaven (2025 Remastered)“, a welcomed reissue of this very good melodic rock / AOR album with a refreshed sound.Great songs, riffs, smooth vocals: just simply timeless melodious stuff. Berry has that loose yet extremely clear vocal style that John Waite exemplified in Bad English.Production is crystal clear with a very late ’80s approach and the songs holds very good quality. As examples, ‘Anything Goes’ is a great melodic AOR-rocker that reminds of Jimmy Davis meets 38 Special. ‘Like Me Like That’ has brilliant keyboards and the song could have been on RTZ’s debut. Then ‘Broken Glass’ is one of these classy midtempo tunes with a touch of Bad English.On certain songs we hear a more powerful arena rock sound; cuts like title track ‘Road To Heaven,’ Comin’ Home,’ and ‘We Don’t Talk.’ We could easily mention something notable about each song simply because they are all that good.‘I Can Breathe’ is a breathtaking number for its great vocal harmonies and ripping guitar work. On ‘Comin’ Home,’ the whole band delivers with a driving rock pump loaded with vocal and instrumental excitement. ‘Not Done Til It’s Done’ is a thoroughly clever and memorable piece only because the music is so unique: a great mix of keyboards with a phenomenal rhythm section and again terrific vocals from Berry.One of the finest Melodic Rock / AOR albums coming from an American band in the 2000’s, listening again ALLIANCE’s ‘Road To Heaven’ reminds us how good this band and this LP it is.
Line-Up:
Robert Berry - All vocals, Bass and keyboards (solo artist, 3, and GTR)
Gary Pihl - All Guitars (Boston and Sammy Hagar)
David Lauser: Drums (Sammy Hagar And The Waboritas)
Alan Fitzgerald - Keyboards
Production:
Mixed & Mastered by Martin Kronlund , Håkan Kristoffersson
Recorded At – Soundtek Studios, Campbell, CA
Mixed At – JM Studio (2)
Mastered At – JM Studio (2)
Cover [Artwork], Design [Booklet] – Carl-André Beckston
Executive-Producer – Khalil Turk
Tracklist:
01. Road to Heaven (2025 Remastered)
02. I Can Breathe (2025 Remastered)
03. Make a Stand (2025 Remastered)
04. Anything Goes (2025 Remastered)
05. Like Me Like That (2025 Remastered)
06. Broken Glass (2025 Remastered)
07. We Don’t Talk (2025 Remastered)
08. Comin’ home (2025 Remastered)
09. Nothin’ else I Can Do (2025 Remastered)
10. Walkin’ away (2025 Remastered)
11. Remember Those Days (2025 Remastered)
12. Not Done ’til It’s Done (2025 Remastered)
13. Much More Innocent (2025 Remastered)
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
